Cornered
by PiOneOneZero
Summary: A tight spot leads to a few home truths... Written for VAMB Secret Summer 2015 - with thanks to purpledog for the beta.


The noise was the first thing that hit Kathryn. Allher years in Starfleet, and more recently captaining a ship through the daily challenges of the Delta Quadrant, had done surprisingly little to prepare her for such a sound. Earsplitting, rending and terrible, like a thousand red alert sirens mixed up with phaserfire and the sucking, exploding sound of a hull breach. Only worse, so much worse.

Then the ground below her gave way and there was a rush of air; her stomach fell faster than the rest of her causing an awful jerking sensation. Fear, dust, impact and then... darkness.

She awoke to a feeling of pressure all around her. She performed a quick inventory of herself - everything appeared to be intact, but her back was very painful and there was a strange numb ache in the region of her right foot. She lifted her head, then instantly dropped it again as a wave of nausea hit her along with a horrible vertigo. It was only then that she realised she'd had her eyes screwed tightly shut, however opening them made little difference as she did so only to total darkness. She tried to swallow, but was forced to cough by the dust that appeared to coat her mouth and throat. What had happened?

* * *

"Paris to Voyager".

"Go ahead Mr Paris".

"The Xadacian unit and I are getting close to the coordinates where we lost contact with the Captain and the Commander".

"Anything to report?"

"Not as yet..." Just as he spoke the words, Tom noticed a couple of the Xadacian marines that were scouting a short way ahead become more animated and begin pointing towards an area to the right of the path they'd been following through the undergrowth, "... hold that thought a moment Tuvok, we may have something".

He moved swiftly forward to try and get a view of what had caught their interest. As he came to the top of a small rise his breath caught in his throat as he saw a huge hole in the ground, ragged and broken with dust still rising from where a very recent collapse had clearly happened. He began to run, but was almost immediately stopped by another of the marines who restrained him around the shoulders.

"It isn't safe Lieutenant, the ground could give way further. Please remain here whilst our men assess the situation". Tom reluctantly halted in his headlong dash.

"What the hell is it?" He couldn't tear his eyes from the gaping maw of the ground that had clearly swallowed Janeway and Chakotay.

"A disused mineshaft. There are a few scattered around the forest but they are usually well signposted and fenced off - I don't know how this could have happened..."

Tom's communicator chirped then, reminding him that he really ought to update Tuvok on what was happening.

"Sorry Tuvok, it looks like... like they've fallen into an old mine. We need to try and get the scene secured to avoid further incidents before we can begin to plan a rescue operation". He refused to use the word recovery.

"Understood Mr Paris, please keep me updated and let me know if you need any more personnel or resources".

"I will Tuvok, Paris out". Tom continued to stare at the hole with an increasing feeling of helplessness as the marines tentatively began to shore up the edges.

* * *

Chakotay stretched out his arms, feeling the rough stone and patches of gravel that surrounded the small space he was in. After only a few moments he had mapped the whole pocket, three metres long by twoish metres wide and maybe a metre and a half high with a narrowing at one end. Enough to sit up and turn around, with just about room to half crawl, half shuffle on his belly. At first he thought it was completely pitch dark, but after a while of allowing his ringing head to process what his eyes were seeing, he realised there was a barely perceptible light coming from somewhere above.

Relief. Light, however faint, meant air and air meant time. This feeling was short lived however when he realised that Kathryn had been with him when they'd fallen into… wherever this was.

"KATHRYN!" His voice sounded strange in the small space; muffled and dull. He took a few breaths before finding the energy to shout again - the fall had clearly taken more out of him than he'd realised - but the only thought that possessed him now was the need to find her.

* * *

At first Kathryn thought she was hearing things. Her head was pounding so hard she was having a tough time trying to work out what was real and what wasn't.

After a more few minutes though, she was forced to admit that the voice was real, and coming from somewhere to her left. Instinctively, she reached in that direction and in doing so she found a narrow opening in the rubble which was just wide enough to squeeze her arm into.

Rolling slightly onto her side to allow her to reach further down the thin passageway, she felt again the press of the debris and fought the urge to panic.

"CHAKOTAY!" She cringed at the fear in her own voice, but was relieved when the response came back,

"Kathryn! I hear you". His voice instantly calmed her in the way no other had the power to do, and when she answered him she had regained a large portion of control.

"Chakotay are you all right?" Her own injuries were momentarily forgotten in her concern for him.

"I'm fine, how about you?" It was odd how the pain throbbed anew in her back and foot when he drew her attention to them.

"A few scrapes, nothing serious". He fell silent for a few moments, and she could tell he was gauging her tone to see if he could read how injured she actually was. She laughed slightly to herself – she'd never been able to deceive him, even through several hundred tonnes of rock.

* * *

"Voyager to Paris, any news?"

"Not as yet Tuvok. The marines are getting nearer to being able to do some exploratory scans. Have you been able to discern anything from orbit?"

"Negative. Neither our transporters nor our scanners have been able to penetrate the native bedrock in that area – some sort of unfamiliar metallic element seems to be blocking them".

"Durenium. It's a very lightweight, durable substance that the Xadacian people use for making a whole host of things – not dissimilar in appearance and weight to aluminium but much, much stronger. It's what they were mining for here. As you say, the drawback of having so much of it on this planet is that it blocks much of our conventional equipment. The Xadacians have ways round it but nothing as sophisticated as any kind of transport technology. We're going to have to do this one the old fashioned way I'm afraid".

"Understood. I'm sending you some additional crew to help with the heavy work it sounds like you'll inevitably have to do. Tuvok out".

Three crew members materialised almost immediately along with some lifting equipment. Tom sighed; this was clearly going to take some time.

* * *

Chakotay had shuffled over to the end of the space from which he could hear Kathryn's voice. The desperation he felt to get to her was unbearable, and after a difficult few minutes of twisting his body into the right position he was reaching his arm into the narrower opening of the pocket, trying to assess how easy it would be to dig his way towards her.

"Chakotay what are you doing?" She must have been able to hear the scratching, scraping sounds as he moved himself around.

"I'm trying to get to you". His arm extended to full stretch still didn't hit rock, and he wriggled forwards to try and gain a few more inches.

"I've tried making contact with the ship Kathryn, but my communicator seems to be completely dead".

* * *

She almost didn't want to try her own. A little piece of hope she wanted to hold onto. She wriggled her free hand painfully between the rock and her chest, managing to get a single finger in contact with the metal badge. The dull electronic sound of a failure to connect confirmed what she suspected but made her heart sink nonetheless.

"No, nothing from mine either". There must be something in the local geography preventing them from making contact. The confinement of the tiny space hit Kathryn again and she tried hard to breathe her way through it. Unfortunately, any attempt to breathe deeply only served to remind her how close the surrounding earth was to her chest – her throat was painfully dry from the dust which made things all the more unpleasant.

"Chakotay I need to get out of here". She reached further into the opening from which she could hear his scrabbling sounds. She knew she wouldn't have a chance of making contact with him, but just the idea that it might be a possibility was surprisingly calming to her.

"I'm going to get you out Kathryn, just hang on".

* * *

"Lieutenant Paris, we're ready to commence the digging". About time, it had seemed like about a month already that Tom had been standing there staring helplessly into what had become almost the mouth of hell.

"Go right on ahead, my officers are ready to assist you". He signalled to the three Voyager crew to switch on the earth moving equipment.

To begin with, things progressed quickly. Tom was heartened by how fast the hole expanded, despite the fact that he knew it would be several more hours before they reached the location where the Xadacian scanners had detected what was likely the Captain and Chakotay; some twelve metres below the surface.

After a time, progress appeared to slow. The long minutes began to drag out further and further, and Tom was finding it harder to resist the urge to start pacing.

* * *

After interminable minutes of digging away with his fingernails, Chakotay had managed to clear enough of the gravel and dirt to shuffle forwards a few more inches. He still hadn't hit rock at the furthest reach of his arm and he was beginning to actually believe that the spaces connected, even if it was only through the smallest of gaps.

"Kathryn are you reaching towards me?" He heard a few scrabbling noises and the shuffling sound of her shifting herself in the debris. At the same time he strained his shoulder muscles against the rock. There was a feeling of a give in the dirt around them, followed by an awful rushing sound as gravel and debris began falling into the narrow gap.

Chakotay instinctively covered his head, but the cascade of earth stopped almost as soon as it had begun. Reaching forward again, he realised that an amount of the surrounding material had collapsed – not much – but enough to potentially allow him to reach further into the space. He frantically scrabbled to clear the loose earth and wriggled further forward on his belly, arm extended before him.

* * *

The first contact of his fingertips on hers was such a shock that she almost recoiled backward. Although she'd been reaching out for him, straining her shoulder muscles to stretch just one more inch, the moment of contact was still a revelation. That lightest of feather-brushes cascaded through her whole body like electricity and she almost stifled the soft moan that came from her lips before she began questioning why she felt the need to do so.

There was the subtlest of shifting below and to her left in the rubble, and the narrow gap between them widened, bringing his entire forearm into contact with hers – finger pads against sensitive inner elbows. She didn't even think about silencing herself this time as a sharp intake of breath was followed by a raspy sigh. She wasn't sure whether the response she thought she heard from Chakotay was actually real or merely part of the constant shifting sounds of their precarious situation, but if it was she had to describe it as a chuckle.

She squirmed as his fingertips traced lightly along her inner arm and over her wrist, reminding her of the tightness of their situation and she tried to relax to prevent herself from panicking.

"Just breathe Kathryn, breathe and relax – don't over analyse it. The only way we're going to survive this is if we keep calm".

When his hand finally rested in hers, thumb folded over thumb, the rightness of it hit her. They'd held hands before of course, shaken them, pulled one another from danger, helped each other up. But this holding was different; this simple holding that demanded nothing and conveyed everything. Like two parts of a jigsaw fitting together, when neither had previously known that they were part of something greater or that each was missing the other. The scientist in her shook away all thought of fate or destiny, but nevertheless continued to hold.

* * *

Tom paced back and forth until the point where he was genuinely beginning to wear a furrow in the soft earth below his feet. He'd checked in with every member of the work parties, trying to find some shred of task for himself – but there was nothing – digging, seismic monitoring, scanning, all of it was already covered.

In the end he'd taken the offer from one of the Xadacian pilots to take up one of their single man craft and survey the scene from above. They'd made up some crap excuse about how an aerial view would assist with the rescue operation, but he knew they just wanted him out of the way.

Normally it would be a relief to get into the cockpit of any craft, and this one was a particularly fine example – both fast and manoeuvrable – but Tom was far too distracted to enjoy it in the way he normally would. The rescue site looked even more horrible from above – a very obvious blot on the otherwise rather scenic Xadacian homeworld.

He finished the required survey quickly and returned to the ground – he couldn't bring himself to take the craft for a proper spin as he would have been itching to do under any other circumstances.

* * *

Kathryn had been quiet for several minutes, but Chakotay could feel her pulse against his thumb so he could tell that she was calmer. At some point, he was going to have to suggest to her what he knew needed to happen next – namely that with his help she should push her way through the now increased gap into the larger space he was in.

In the end, after many minutes of soul searching, it all happened almost in a flash – one second they were still calmly holding hands, and the next she was panicking about soil falling on her from above. He was forced to make a snap decision – he had already worked out that the pocket in which he was lying had a more secure ceiling of solid rock and so knew she would be safer where he was.

"Kathryn, when I say now, you need to duck your head and push yourself towards me as hard as you can". He felt her tense immediately.

"What do you mean. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to help you. Three, two, one, now". There was a terrifying moment where a cascade of further earth came down into the passageway, but Chakotay held on firmly to Kathryn's hand as he pulled like his life depended on it, and after a few seconds he could feel the resistance lessening – moments later she was emerging out of the wall of loose earth that was now between them.

Coughing but very much alive, she balled herself up across from him, still holding onto his hand with all that she was worth . He knew that he needed to try and do something to calm her again, and quickly.

* * *

"Close your eyes". His voice was like molten honey sliding off a warm spoon.

"Chakotay, I can't see anything anyway". He squeezed her hand softly then, a little much needed reassurance.

"Indulge me", he said, "it's all part of the process of getting in touch with the spiritual plane, surely you remember it's not that long ago?"

"It's been five years". That realisation must have hit them both hard, as there was a tense pause for a few moments before he replied,

"Yes I suppose it has". She squeezed her eyes shut tightly before recalling the need to relax, then just allowed her lids to droop gently.

"Okay I'm ready". This time a soft caress over the back of her hand, followed by a gentle circling of his thumb against her wrist made her shiver from head to somewhere around her knees, but ultimately resulted in relaxing her further which had clearly been his aim.

"Tell me what you see". It took a few long moments, breathing as deeply as she could in the oppressive space, but slowly a familiar scene began to brighten before her vision. As it became clearer and more real she started to move through it as if walking, freed of their current restrictions and her injuries. As she did so she described to him what she saw - the cool sand beneath her feet, the swaying Marram grass haloed by the low golden sunlight that reflected off the water, the sound of the waves and crickets chirping in the soft sea breeze. And him. Walking towards her with his arms outstretched to take her hands, dressed in loose slacks, sandals and a thin white shirt with a deep v at the neck that showed his chest.

"Me!?" The sound of astonishment from him, much closer than he appeared in her mind, broke her out of the vision and she found herself holding her breath waiting for him to say something more.

* * *

"We're getting close to them Tuvok, just another couple of metres or so according to the Xadacian instruments".

"I've asked the Doctor to prepare Sickbay to receive them immediately – we don't know yet what condition they're in".

"Understood, I'll brief the Xadacian team to expect immediate transport following the rescue if it turns out to be necessary".

* * *

"Really, it doesn't mean anything. Why does it have to mean anything anyway?" She was garbling.

Chakotay recognised the behaviour as it was such a familiar trait in himself – trying desperately to dig himself out of a hole he was only making worse. And he also knew exactly what type of scenario brought on that instinctive reaction. He was suddenly emboldened by this knowledge combined with the precariousness of their situation. Knowing what Kathryn was thinking with as close to 100% certainty as he could feasibly get, he wasn't prepared for their potential, even likely, deaths to occur without finally addressing the unspoken tension that had existed between them for years.

"It does mean something Kathryn. I know because I feel it too - this connection that has grown between us over the years. I've had enough experience in life to know I couldn't feel something like this without you feeling it too - because closeness doesn't work like that. Either of us would only feel this if we both feel it. It could be now or never and I'm not going to let this pass us by any more".

The silence was lengthy. He had anticipated that - they had both danced around this for so long that his confronting her directly must be a huge shock, just like it would have been if she'd done the same to him. Despite the fact that he'd expected it, his heart still raced in his chest as he waited for her response. When the expanse of time almost became unbearable, she moved.

Slowly at first, the soft rustle of her uniform against the dust and rubble - she was still cautious after the previous shifts of earth - but with increasing boldness she moved towards him. It was only a short distance, and all she had to do was turn her body and shuffle across the small space, yet time seemed to slow down as she did so. Then in the final moment the suspense seemed to end all at once, as she buried her face into his chest, fists balled as she grasped the material of his sleeves. Her breathing was ragged and yet he felt her relax as she pressed herself into him, the heat of her exhalations warm and damp against his breastbone.

There was a desperate sense of relief about her, and he wrapped his arms around her - gently, not wishing to frighten her or push her too much, but she moved her hands from his sleeves then, seeking the hem of his jacket so she could push her hands inside. Her nails raked down his back - not too hard, but not exactly gently either and he couldn't keep himself from pressing his groin against her as his head fell back a little and he sighed deeply. She pressed back just as strongly and he was forced to bite his lip against the strength of the sensation he felt from the full body contact.

* * *

The time between the certainty of kissing and the first brush of his lips felt like an eternity. So long in fact, that she was reminded of a time some years before when they had danced together at a ship function, and during a pause in the music there had been a moment where everything else faded into the background. There was just the two of them and the inevitability of their lips meeting seemed just as strong as it did now. But then he had spoken and the moment was lost - she could still remember the sharp jerk she'd felt as she snapped back to reality - a stumbling feeling like tripping or stepping off a carousel.

For a second she wondered if the same thing was about to happen again but then a wonderful softness was pressed against her mouth and everything but the sensation was entirely forgotten; their situation, the years of dancing around one another, protocol, all of it chased away by the rich, intoxicating heat of him pressing his tongue softly against hers as he pulled her all the stronger against his body.

All that reasoning behind why they'd never gotten this close to each other previously was instantly gone from her head. None of it seemed to matter anymore as Kathryn, still in a pleasant haze from the meditation, watched those reasons dance away corporeally on some imaginary breeze. As they disappeared from sight, she was pulled back into awareness of her body with a thump – Chakotay pressing against every part of her felt so very right and she felt a surge of arousal wash through her and tingle down to the tips of her toes. Instinct pushed her hips forward, grinding against his erection, and he groaned and shifted, pushing a hand inside her torn jacket and seeking out her breast.

It was tricky, moving around one another in the tight space, and it was dusty and awkward, but once the two of them had got over their initial nervousness they both laughed and moaned their way through the limitations of their situation. There was a sense of rebellion about the whole act – of defiance against their almost certain demise – and they forgot it all as they inched their way towards bliss with nothing in their minds but each other.

* * *

"We've got them Commander, and they both appear to be fine – a few superficial injuries but nothing life threatening". Tom could almost feel his own relief it was so palpable, and his instinct to rush forward towards them was strong, but one of the marines restrained him gently with a hand against the chest.

"Give them some space". He reluctantly did so and took a few moments to enjoy the sight of them, covered in dust and wrapped in blankets, eyes squinting against the bright afternoon sun.

* * *

As they took a few minutes to adjust back to the harsh daylight, Chakotay considered his next words – he had to confront this immediately and not allow the barriers to go up again.

"Do you wish this hadn't happened Kathryn? Do you regret any of it now that we made it out?" She took less time than he expected to answer.

"Yes, I do have regrets". His heart sank almost through the ground at her words. He looked up at her, determined that he would not wish away what had passed between them, no matter how it might affect their relationship and the ship going forwards. He was surprised to find her smiling, and she answered his unspoken question,

"But I don't regret that we did this; in fact quite the opposite. I regret that we didn't do it sooner".

He couldn't hide the broad smile that bloomed across his face, nor hold back the urge to pull her into his arms despite the shocked faces of the crew who looked on.


End file.
